A California resident fatally shot a crazed, shirtless vandal this week after the suspect forced his way into the man’s apartment.
The incident occurred around 5:45 Tuesday evening in Pleasant Hill, a suburb of the Bay Area.
Police were called to the scene just before the deadly encounter as other residents in the area reported the suspect’s erratic and destructive behavior to dispatchers.
“He was stumbling all over the place, making loud noises,” neighbor Laura Bryan told KTVU.
Bryan said the man, later identified as 46-year-old John Kreutz, also tried to break into her residence.
As law enforcement pulled up to investigate, they heard gunfire.
Kreutz had allegedly forced his way into the victim’s home. The resident responded to the intruder with his legally owned 9mm pistol.
SEE ALSO: Illinois Institutes Universal Background Checks, Gun Confiscation Task Force
Kreutz was shot multiple times, including in the chest and head. When police ran up to the home where the gunfire erupted, they found Kreutz on the living room floor.
He would succumb to his wounds.
While the Contra Costa County DA’s office is now reviewing the case, all signs indicate that this was a lawful use of force by the resident.
UPDATE: A bearded, shirtless intruder shot dead by a man renting a Pleasant Hill home was a married father of 3, family tells me. The resident who opened fire will likely not face charges, per @PHillPD. 4,5,6,7:15 p.m. @KTVU pic.twitter.com/STMyN6DaYD
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) August 4, 2021
“He and his witness wife were cooperative,” Pleasant Hill police Lt. David Nichols told KTVU. “They’re not looked as a suspect at this time, and there are no suspects outstanding.”
Kreutz is survived by his wife and three children. The family did not offer a comment to the media about the shooting.
Local news affiliates are reporting that this is the third intruder-involved shooting in the Bay Area since July.
A 51-year-old Santa Clara homeowner shot an alleged burglar last month, though the suspect in that encounter survived.
And, a Fairfield man shot an armed intruder with a .357 magnum. Police found the body of the suspect across the street with a loaded handgun on his person.
So he was swimming earlier but never put his shirt back on? Why would one be so drunk in public that he doesn’t know where he lives? Why was his family looking for him? Why didn’t the family notify police he was missing? Was he swimming drunk too? I think your son was so drunk he was a threat to himself and others. If we outlawed alcohol this wouldn’t have happened, right? Just like they want to do with guns, right. Alcohol is a legalized drug with a tax stamp. This means one must use their own self discipline.
I feel for the innocent homeowner whose life will be a mess for years to come. No one wins, but don’t defend someone who is the criminal. Btw, to the gentleman who is naive. 2 shots show nothing ,nor do nine. Got soot a semiauto when your scared crap less, you will use all your bullets.
The crazed man was my son. He was drunk and looking for his wife. He was unarmed. He didn’t need to be shot 9 times. He lived in a townhouse that looked the same as the ones he was trying to get into. My son was a father of three children who adored him, a loving son also adored and a brother to two sisters and a brother who are in deep grief as is his father and I. He was shirtless because he had been swimming was his 8 yr old son earlier in the day. He could have been taken down with a chair. The police had just gotten there when the home owner opened fire, he was on the phone with the police the entire time. JD was also a loved and highly respected top salesperson at his job. His funeral was Friday 13th family and friends came from Hawaii Wyoming and all over the West Coast to pay their respects, he was loved deeply by many.
I hope this clears up a lot of the nonsense posted from people that don’t know anything about what happened.
Judy Kreutz
It’s so easy to type this rhetorical nonsense. None of you know the entire story. Neither do I. No one knows why a family man that had no criminal record and a job. Suddenly started vandalizing cars, then started banging on doors. While shouting. Which led to breaking and entering. Resulting in his death. I could see why people were scared. He was a very big man. I can even understand the resident shooting him. What I can’t understand. Is the heartless way people are handling this. A man’s family is grieving their loss. Another man is facing different problems because he took a persons life. All most pf you can do is talk shit.
There is an old saying: “When seconds count the police are minutes away”.
Good job always shoot to kill
The legalese saying is”shoot to disable”. An overzealous prosecutor could bring charges against you for possible manslaughter if you told that to a responding police officer.
He didn’t hesitate, he acted swiftly and courageously. He and wife will live another day.
“California Resident Fatally Shoots Crazed, Shirtless Vandal”???
Who is writing these headlines? He wasn’t a vandal, this wasn’t a vandalism!!! This was a Burglary of an occupied residence, possibly even a Home Invasion Robbery depending on the details!
Headlines like this are misleading, it’s like when CNN says ‘officer shoots driver over speeding” but in the actual story they say the suspect started shooting at the cop as he walked up to the car and the officer returned fire. The headlong should tell a quick summary of the story, not lie like this one. You’re better than this Guns America.
He was indeed vandalizing property.
The definition of Burglary is entering or remaining in a structure or conveyance with the intent to commit another crime. His vandalizing the property turned into a secondary criminal offense once he entered the occupied residence. He was the INSIDE the house and Committing the more serious offense of burglary.
If I am shoplifting and shoot the clerk in the head and kill him as I’m leaving before getting caught, yes technically I just committed a shoplifting, but the headline shouldn’t read shoplifter in custody, it should read murder suspect in custody.
He was also damaging cars and other property before he forced his way into the victim’s home. Watch the video.
Reminds me of my visit to Venice Beach. Same scenario without a shooting except people ignored it.
While I do support armed self-and-home protection, I wonder when somebody really invents a “Stun” gun that can stun an attacker without risking their life? Tasers are a moderately successful system, but they don’t always work. What we need is a defensive weapon that will stun or otherwise incapacitate an aggressor while not doing a lot of damage to them…like Star Trek Phasers set on stun. Surely someone out there has an idea of how to do this? And, since they are not firearms, they’d be immune from firearm law insanity. Perhaps they could be distributed for free in high crime neighborhoods?
I am not anti-firearm, hell, I have a decent sized “collection” of pistols and rifles…but this stun weapon would run on electricity rather than too-damned-expensive ammunition. Instead of forking over your life’ savings for bang boxes, you just plug it in.
I used to shoot at least four hours a week. Now I’m down to one hour every ten days and still having to cut corners elsewhere to afford ammunition and forget reloading, the local fire safety laws make that impossible for me.
Come on, we have flying cars and space ships; how difficult could a stunner be?
Do you really believe that the gubbmint and libs won’t try to regulate those weapons? Come on, man!
Tasers are protected under the second amendment and considered firearms so why wouldn’t your new fantasy weapon? I’ll stick with lethal force anyway. Also this new taser/phaser/stun gun would be very costly.
Get real guy. Ever seen anyone on PCP? Almost nothing will stop them. Besides, lethal force is God’s way of thinning the criminal herd. Otherwise our overcrowded court system will allow the perp to plea bargain and be out on the streets in a month to do it again.
Some say this is a darwin event..
I would of shoy yhe sob 10 times, you know just to make sure he dont get up.
Yeah, and shooting him ten times would blow your Self-Defense statement so far up it would never come back. Once or twice is fear and defense. Ten times is deliberate. Don’t think the Cops don’t know this.
I’ve seen otherwise
I pray for both families involved, especially this home owner. This was probably just another drug crazed moron. No matter the circumstances he’ll have to live with this for the rest of his life. I hope he finds solace in knowing he had no other choice. Just taking out the trash …
I am shocked! Shocked I tell you that this incident was handled normally and with common sense by the police. Don’t they realize this is Bizarro America where right is wrong and up is down? I pity these poor officers when Hollywood gets through with them… doing their job according to the law? Who do they think they are?
Wow! is it Crazed shirtless vandal season already?
When danger is seconds away and help is minutes away, 18 minutes being the national average, it’s incumbent upon We The People to exercise our God given Right…The Second Amendment.
True and well said 😎